Mortgage fraudsters jailed

A former BNZ banker and a lawyer have been handed jail terms for committing a $54 million mortgage fraud in Auckland and Hamilton.

Friday, August 3rd 2018, 2:12PM

by Dan Dunkley

Lawyer Gang (Richard) Chen and ex-BNZ banker Zongliang (Charly) Jiang have been jailed after being convicted of illegally obtaining mortgages for 76 properties in the two cities. It follows their conviction in June, following a trial at Auckland's High Court.

Chen and Jiang were complicit in a scheme to secure residential home loans for a property development group, LV Park, at a significantly lower rate than was available to commercial property developers. Loans paid out to the group totalled $54 million, according to the Serious Fraud Office.

Chen was found guilty of charges including facilitating bribes to bank employees, and was sentenced to six years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of three years.

While at BNZ, Jiang made the payments in return for bribes. The banker was sentenced to four years and nine months, with a minimum non-parole period of two years, four months.

The fraud ring was led by Kang (Thomas) Huang, the head of the LV Park Companies. Huang, also known as Gang Wang, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty in December. A fourth accomplice, property developer Kang Xu, was sentenced to 12 months home detention.

SFO Director, Julie Read said the tough sentences reflected the "very serious nature of offending", that relied on "calculation and collaboration". She added: "Such fraud undermines lenders’ confidence in borrowers in the mortgage market. The banks were misled in a number of respects including the financial position of the purported borrowers and the level of associated risk. The SFO is committed to investigating and prosecuting this kind of large-scale offending to maintain the integrity of the financial market place."